Centre
for Floristic
Research (CFR)
earlier known as Taxonomy Lab,
is a unit of Department of Plant Biology and
Plant
Biotechnology. Madras Christian College
has been
in the forefront in the field of taxonomy since 1930s. Prof. E. Barnes,
though
a chemistry teacher, was a well known taxonomist of his times. He has
contributed a lot towards the understanding of flora tropical dry
evergreen
forest and the Western Ghats especially Arisaema
and Impatiens
spp. He was primarily responsible for the present vegetation of the
campus
which is a regenerated Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest.
Prof. D. Giles Lal, who was
one
of the earliest teachers of taxonomy, was a popular teacher of taxonomy
for
over three decade since 1947 in the city of Chennai. He was known for
his
regimental field trips and for his first compilation of flora of Madras
Christian College campus in 1972. Dr. C. Livingstone along with his
teacher
Prof. D. Giles Lal has brought an updated edition of Flora of Madras
Christian
College in 1978. This flora has served as a popular reference for plant
names
and local names among the taxonomy teachers of various colleges. Dr. C.
Livingstone revised P. V. Mayuranathan’s Flowering Plants of
Madras City and
its immediate neighbourhood and his study was published by the Madras
Museum in
1994. There were two other teachers of taxonomy namely, Dr. Crispin
Devadas and
Prof. Durairaj Rajiah who had a passion for taxonomy and inspired
several
undergraduate batches of students. Dr. Crispin’s
illustrations of LS and floral
diagrams of common plants have remained a standard reference for
generations of
teachers.
Department
of Botany as
it was known earlier and was rechristened as department of Plant
Biology and
Plant Biotechnology after 2005 has remained a place of higher learning
in
taxonomy. Among colleges of Tamil Nadu, CFR of this department
has been
recognized as one of the well known taxonomic training and research
centres.
Students from this centre have been appreciated for their skills in
conventional taxonomy and for their knowledge in the upcoming fields. A
large
number of Government and Non–Governmental organizations have
employed students
from this centre to their satisfaction.
CFR
basically train
students in the following areas. 1. Floristics 2. Ethnobotany 3.
Medicinal
Plants 4. Anatomy and Pharmacognosy. CFR has a good
expertise and
information on the flora of Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests, Eastern
Ghats,
Sacred Groves, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and on endemic plants of
Tamil Nadu
state. CFR also has explored medicinal plant markets
of Tamil Nadu
and has collaborated with Foundation
for
Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT), Bengaluru and our
inputs
have been incorporated in their publications on Medicinal Plant
Trade. CFR
is perhaps the only taxonomic centre in the entire Northern Tamil Nadu
and is
being consulted by various user groups such as students, researchers,
foresters, volunteer organizations and public for identifying plants
and for
other relevant information on plants. CFR also offers
consultancy on tree
planting especially on the choice of appropriate native tree
species. CFR
has a good library resource in the field of taxonomy, biodiversity,
ethnobotany
and medicinal plants that is referred by students as well as
researchers from this department
and other institutions.
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